Visit To VanPelt's Farm Market

VanPelt's Farm Market

LFLF made a trip into Ohio yesterday and we made a stop at VanPelt's Farm Market on the way home. This is a busy market and there were a couple of folks who were picking up bushel quantities of tomatoes, beans, & peppers to do their home canning.

Van Pelt's Egg Noodles

The market is stocked with local meats, cheeses, noodles, baked goods, eggs, milk, etc! We got a bag of granola & 2 different cheeses. Then it was on to the sweet corn, a melon, and some peaches.
The apples are starting to come in too with several varieties available.  Ginger Gold is a favorite of ours.

VanPelt's Ginger Gold & Gala Apples

VanPelt's Zeststar & Paula Red Apples

I have to admit, I've never seen the apple variety Zeststar before ... have you?

Packed Market ver2.0

I have a few more shots of the Ambridge Farmers' Market from Thursday to share. A note for those with limited mobility ...... the market is level and parking is available next to the vendors. You don't have to cross a street or climb any steps. There are always folks with walkers & scooters in the mix here. Also plenty of baby strollers, so come on down.

First, a little info on my "take" from the market. I only buy watermelon in season, so I'm going to try this "Y4" melon from the Volkars. "Y4", for the uninitiated, means that it's a $4 yellow fleshed melon. I'll crack this open on the weekend. The Ginger Gold apples http://www.produceoasis.com/Items_folder/Fruits/ginger-gold-apple.asp came from Woodward's Orchard. There's a picture of some of their peppers and tomatoes. If you like to visit farms, check out their annual event beginning on the 3rd weekend of September, "Fall Fun for Y'all". Here's a link for contact infomation & directions. http://agmap.psu.edu/Businesses/1591

Also ---- there's still time to buy potted herbs to transplant for your windowsill garden! I always have a rosemary plant on our south facing kitchen windowsill to clip when I'm making a beef or chicken roast in the winter. Everyone can fit in a potted plant or two ........

Finally, I seemed to keep bumping into this gentleman mystery shopper ..... he was buying up all of the tiniest new potatoes at the market.

Watermelons everywhere!

Lots of watermelons at the Beaver Farmers' Market yesterday ...... my first local watermelon of the season is a red seedless melon. Next I'll try the yellow melons. Will anyone bring an orange fleshed watermelon to market? Haven't seen those in W PA, but then again, I don't get to EVERY market ......... ;~)

Check out this site for recipes and even information for educators! http://www.watermelon.org/

Just for fun .......... http://www.snopes.com/photos/odd/watermelon.asp

They're not food (at least these ones weren't edible), but the flowers were really looking good at the market too. Sunflowers, zinnia, cockscomb, glads, and a whole variety from the market cut flower grower. More on the BCF&VGA cut flower grower when I can get some good shots of her flowers in afternoon lighting. AND the hardy fall mums have shown up in the last week or so ......... while parking, we saw several being carted off by their new owners.